500km Australian toxic crisis triggers release of seven-point plan: 'Nowhere is safe'

Yahoo

5 days ago

As the worst Australian algal bloom in recorded history continues to kill almost everything in its path across 500km of coastline, the nation's top experts have released a seven-point plan to deal with the problem.
With extreme events like this expected to occur not just in South Australia but around the country as climate change worsens, the Biodiversity Council – an independent expert group founded by 11 universities – has created a plan to protect tourism and fishing jobs as well as the environment.
One of the plan's authors, Dr Scott Bennet, from the University of Tasmania Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, warned that 'sadly, nowhere is safe' from marine heatwaves.
'We don't see this as an isolated event. This is symptomatic of broader climate change and marine heatwave impacts that are happening around the country,' he told Yahoo News.
'Until this event, South Australia had been relatively immune, and it was an area of least concern. All the ingredients are in these other places for similar events to happen, and they have happened on the east and west coasts, just at a smaller scale.'
What is the seven-point plan?
The seven-point plan is contained within a new report, Key actions needed to respond to South Australia's catastrophic toxic algal bloom, and the recommendations are:
1. Investigate and fast-track emergency interventions for species at high risk of extinction or major population declines.
2. Immediately invest a minimum of $10 million to start research to understand the impact of this bloom and inform plans for what to do when the next bloom hits.
3. Accelerate Australia's decarbonisation efforts and become a global leader in climate action.
4. Reduce nutrient and dissolved carbon pollution.
5. Restore and protect marine ecosystems.
6. Establish a long-term monitoring program for the Great Southern Reef
7. Establish mechanisms to plan for and respond to catastrophic natural disasters
Key sign algal bloom is now fuelling itself
The scale of the karenia mikimotoi algal bloom is associated with events linked to climate change.
The first was the flooding of the Murray River, which resulted in nutrient-rich water entering the Southern Ocean in 2022/2023. The second was a cold upswelling that drew this runoff to the surface. And the third was a marine heatwave that began in September, 2024.
It was in March, 2025 that dying fish began to be documented, and a group of beachgoers reported feeling sick. Since then, more than 14,000 observations of dead marine species have been recorded, and 450 species have been impacted. Some, like the giant cuttlefish and leafy seadragon, have restricted ranges, and their long-term future is in doubt.
'We did initial surveys at a couple of sites that were known as good "leafy" sites, but we didn't see any,' Bennett said.
'They're only found in southern Australia, so if we lose these local populations, that's most of the species' distribution. And once they're gone, they're gone, we can't bring them back.'
The problem is greatest when you look under the surface of the ocean, as report author and Biodiversity Council member Professor Gretta Pecl explained.
'Looking at the footage under the water, it's absolute devastation. What's turning up on beaches in South Australia is only the tip of the iceberg. There are dead bodies lying everywhere, decaying,' she said.
Bennett added that because everything across the ecosystem has been impacted, there's nothing to feed on the bodies of dead organisms.
'There's an idea now that the bloom is fueling itself… the dead stuff is just decomposing, and all those nutrients are then recycling back into the system,' he said.
It had been hoped the problem would dissipate over winter as the air temperature cooled, but this has not occurred. Now the winter solstice has passed, and the weather is warming again.
Calls for Albanese Government to declare a disaster
While the Albanese Government has committed $14 million to help South Australia respond to the problem, Environment Minister Murray Watt has said he's not able to officially declare the situation a Natural Disaster.
The Malinauskas state government has connected the bloom to climate change and voiced concerns the problem will occur again. It is understood to have spoken to the Commonwealth about updating the 2018 Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, so future blooms can be declared Natural Disasters like floods or bushfires, streamlining the process for securing federal funding.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for the Albanese Government to declare the situation a 'national disaster', referencing the National Emergency Declaration laws that were introduced in 2020.
This was activated once before in 2022, when flooding along Australia's east coast killed 26 people and displaced thousands. It would need to be declared by the Governor General at the request of the Prime Minister, and it would open up significant emergency management resources to tackle the problem. Yahoo has asked Minister Watt's office if he has broached this idea with Albanese, but it has yet to respond.
In a statement, a Commonwealth government spokesperson said the response was the 'primary responsibility' of the South Australian government, but it would support its efforts. 'The health and resilience of Australia's ocean is a high priority for the Albanese Government. We are deeply concerned by the widespread marine species mortalities caused by this extreme event,' it said.
Marine heatwave bigger than South Australia
Pecl, who is also a professor at the University of Tasmania, said she believes the response from government should match the scale of the impact and the risk.
'For example, when we had the massive Black Summer bushfires, there was $2 billion in the national bushfire recovery fund, including a $200 million response for wildlife,' she said.
The marine heatwave isn't just isolated to South Australia, the problem has been detected all around Australia's coastline, killing up to 80 per cent of corals in one surveyed region in Western Australia, and bleaching reefs on the east coast at the same time.
'Scientists have been banging on about this for 30 years now, so it's not a surprise to us. These patterns are entirely consistent with what we thought would happen. They are a very strong indication of exactly the magnitude of the challenges we'll face in the future,' Pecl said.
Addressing whether Australia is doing enough to slow climate change, her response was blunt. 'I can conclusively say that whatever we're doing is not enough,' she said.
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